Beaujolais Nouveau Wine

Beaujolais Nouveau is a style of young, fresh wine produced in the Beaujolais region, adjacent to Burgundy, France. Every year, these are released on the third Thursday of November, with much fanfare that “Les Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!!!” What began as a local tradition in the 19th century, made popular in Parisian cafés in the 1950s, has become an actual race for worldwide distribution. Every method of transportation imaginable has been used to ensure arrival by midnight of that Thursday (to release any time before is strictly prohibited), and its many fans can open a fresh bottle that very day. This style accounts for nearly half the entire region’s annual output.

To get technical, this a primeur style of wine, which simply means that it is released between its harvest date and the following spring. It’s not uncommon in other parts of the world, but Beaujolais Nouveau is the most popular and sought after. But isn’t wine supposed to age a bit Read more »

Beaujolais Nouveau is a style of young, fresh wine produced in the Beaujolais region, adjacent to Burgundy, France. Every year, these are released on the third Thursday of November, with much fanfare that “Les Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!!!” What began as a local tradition in the 19th century, made popular in Parisian cafés in the 1950s, has become an actual race for worldwide distribution. Every method of transportation imaginable has been used to ensure arrival by midnight of that Thursday (to release any time before is strictly prohibited), and its many fans can open a fresh bottle that very day. This style accounts for nearly half the entire region’s annual output.

To get technical, this a primeur style of wine, which simply means that it is released between its harvest date and the following spring. It’s not uncommon in other parts of the world, but Beaujolais Nouveau is the most popular and sought after. But isn’t wine supposed to age a bit to round flavors and smooth out tannins? Well, the process has a way of getting around that, albeit with some structural sacrifice.

The process by which they are made is called carbonic maceration. In this case, whole grapes of the Gamay variety are fermented in a sealed container with carbon dioxide. The CO2 gets into the grapes, creating a chemical process which basically speed-ferments the juice while it’s still inside the berry (instead of after crushing). The grapes on the bottom of the container split from the weight and ferment naturally.

The result are red and sometimes rosé (but never white) wines with candied cherry, ripe plum and even cotton candy or bubble gum-like flavors. Very fruity and accessible. But since the tannins and usual grape structure are mostly removed by this process, these are meant to be consumed upon release and won’t keep for long aging.

Some Burgundy winemakers pull their noses up at Beaujolais but, like it or not, these hilly picturesque vineyards just up the road from Macon are an integral part of the illustrious Burgundy region of central France.

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Appearance in the glass very dark and reminiscent of the splendid 2009 vintage - reputed to be the best in 50 years. The depth of black fruit and cultivated violet flowers on the nose is impressive for a new wine. Nice candy-floss and blackberry flavo...

Aromas of spice, black cherries, and mulberries. Flavors of dark fruit-black cherry, raspberry. The wine is nicely balanced with a decent amount of acidity. The best Beaujolais-Villages I have ever tasted. It is a wine that is easy to drink.

Nothing big, nothing fancy...just pure nouveau. Bright fruit, mild tannins with a cut of minerality and acidity. Cherries on the aftertaste that is both surprisingly long (for a beaujolias) and mouthwatering. Drink young - Paul 87 points

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Al, he was talking about your posts in the Forum, not the reviews. If this ... ... it zero. Did the de rigeur Beaujolais nouveau thing at a friend's place at the beginning of this weekend. Five Beaujolais nouveau, one nearby wannabe region's 'Gamay Primeur', followed by a Lanessan '12, an execrable Barolo of the same vintage which shall remain...
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Thanks for the warm welcome! First question: favourite producers is a muddy question for me. In the world of wine, I feel like a forever-bachelorette always sussing out a new potential love of my life. But just to keep things simple, currently on my top-of-mind recall are:1. Armenia: Keush Methode Traditionelle (I'm strict about my bubbles and t...
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As far as Nouveau goes, Mommessin usually makes for heartier fare; the fruit is deeper, less candied and refined - yet totally a product of maceration carbonique - with candy floss, hard (red) candy apple and banana on the nose with that Gamay cherry poking through as well. Very grapey finish - as it should be - with easy drinking, post-harvest ...
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Wine review
by
zufrieden

November 2016

Could it be that Beaujolais Nouveau gave it a bad name? We used to have one sip for fun then break out something else.
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BLM, I was basically wondering about distance of shots, and I think the stories of solid bullet hunting for turkeys were probably driven by overweening pride in accuracy by the speaker, though if you could find a bird at rest downrange at some distance it seemed to make sense. Talk was of not hitting them center mass, but like when I was using t...
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Can you tell us any more about your Burgundy white, Duncan? One of the more ... daily quaffers. Even their Beaujolais Nouveau was reliably good at that late date, after most everyone else was turning out mass sodapop in the face of mushrooming demand. Solid bottlings, with good QPR in those days even for their Grand Crus, but since then they'v...
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Same as Duncan's experience, had a Dornfelder that was less than pleasant, here's my tasting note: A tad on the sweet and syrupy side, with bright red cherries and some cotton candy. Medium to light body and medium to short finish. Reminds me a bit of a Nouveau Beaujolais but not as good.Although this may be very appealing to someone else.
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Nothing big, nothing fancy...just pure nouveau. Bright fruit, mild tannins with a cut of minerality and acidity. Cherries on the aftertaste that is both surprisingly long (for a beaujolias) and mouthwatering. Drink young - Paul 87 popints
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Nothing big, nothing fancy...just pure nouveau. Bright fruit, mild tannins with a cut of minerality and acidity. Cherries on the aftertaste that is both surprisingly long (for a beaujolias) and mouthwatering. Drink young - Paul 87 points
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Wine review
by
rckr1951

January 2016

2015 Bedrock Zinfandel Nouveau Esola Vyd Amador County Was able to source a couple bottles of this wine that was exclusively released to the restaurant biz It's a Nouveau so no need to wait on it.Pours transparent ruby about 1/2 way between a pale Pinot Noir and a rosé. Nose is cherry lifesaver, red vines and walking into the front door of a fl...
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